


Not How I Imagined You In Handcuffs

by Marvel_Mania



Series: Meet-Cutes [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Activist Steve Rogers, Alternate Universe, M/M, Meet-Cute, Police officer Bucky Barnes, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-17
Updated: 2020-04-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:20:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23692255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvel_Mania/pseuds/Marvel_Mania
Summary: Bucky is a police officer who keeps arresting Steve and soon he gets attached to the little punk he keeps having to arrest.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Series: Meet-Cutes [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700515
Comments: 5
Kudos: 178





	Not How I Imagined You In Handcuffs

**Author's Note:**

> Two stories in one week? What is this? I really like this genre so expect more. 
> 
> Usual thanks to my amazing best friends who put up with me for some reason? Love you guys!
> 
> As always, enjoy!

Steve wasn’t what a lot of people expected. He was small and had a list of health problems longer than he was tall. He looked like a strong breeze could push him over and he still got carded every time he tried to buy alcohol even though he was twenty-six. One person had actually had the audacity to call him kid. “You’ll be thankful when everyone else in an old, wrinkly, mess,” Sam had told him when Steve had gotten them kicked out of a bar.

People saw Steve and expected him to avoid fights, cower in the face of confrontation, and metaphorically roll over and show his belly when someone snarled. He did none of this, however. He had gotten into more fights than he could count, his first one occurring when he was thirteen and a freshman in high school. That had also been the day he met some of his closest friends. He had been getting into fights ever since. Whether they were verbal or physical fights, he never backed down and couldn’t step aside when he saw that something was wrong. That being said, he had also been arrested more times than any of his friends (which was impressive considering that Tony’s life had been an endless party for nearly a decade before he started dating Pepper).

Tony had hired Steve as a visual designer for Stark Industries and didn’t care much what he did in his free time and Pepper always made sure that he had a good lawyer when he got arrested. He had a strong feeling that he would be needing to Pepper soon because the rally he was at was starting to get a little out of hand. He had been to more rallies in the past three years, ever since that blundering buffoon had gotten elected president, for almost every cause than he had been in the previous five years combined. He went to any rallies that he could go to, once he was in the car with Peggy and Natasha for nearly four hours to go to a Women’s Rights March in Washington.

He was currently at a march to promote a bill that would start radically fighting to lower carbon emissions and decrease the burning of fossil fuels. People who opposed the bill were starting to cause some problems not far from where Steve was. At first, they seemed to be just yelling and being generally abrasive until Steve noticed some of them trying to catcall some of the women and girls who were in the march. He broke away from the march and watched silently. He was about to simply inform one of the multiple police officers there what was going on until he saw one man jump the barrier and then grab one of the women’s ass.

Before he even thought about it he was pushing the man away from the woman and punching him in the nose. The man’s friends apparently didn’t take too kindly to this because they also tried to get past the officers who were just starting to realize something was wrong. Since Steve was small and didn’t have as much force as he’d like his punch only seemed to piss the guy off though Steve did take some satisfaction in the fact that the guy’s nose was bleeding. His satisfaction was short-lived because the next thing he knew he was getting punched square in face and Steve could just tell that he was going to have a black eye.

After that, the entire scene erupted into chaos. People were yelling, Steve got back to his feet, and a circle had started to form around them. As soon as Steve was back on his feet the man swung at him again but Steve had been in enough fights to know to duck and then swing. He landed another blow, and received two more, before the circle was broken up and they were both being arrested. “Little bastard,” the guy snarled at Steve but Steve simply cooperated with the officer arresting him. He had one almost gotten into a lot of trouble that wouldn’t have been easy to undo by continuing to try to fight while being arrested. It had been the second time he had been arrested though so they let him off with a warning.

Because of his physical appearance, no charges were usually filed and they would let him out the next day. After the handcuffs were on and he was in the back of the police car he took in the appearance of the officer who had arrested him. The officer was standing outside the car, talking to the woman who had been assaulted. She looked like she was trying to explain what had happened and the officer was taking notes on what she was saying.

The officer had shoulder-length brown hair. He was tall, broad, and basically everything Steve wasn’t. Honestly, if he hadn’t just arrested Steve, he would have guessed that he was a stripped considering that it looked like his uniform was practically painted on. The officer finished talking to the woman and got into the front of the car. The ride to the station was quiet with not much needing to be said.

  
•••

  
The same officer who arrested him was the one who also processed him.

“Name,” he asked at some point.

“Steven Grant Rogers,” Steve replied. Silence fell again. “You know, you’re the hottest officer to ever arrest me,” Steve said conversationally.

That earned a small snort from the officer. “You make it a habit of getting arrested,” he asked but there was no heat behind it.

“It may have happened once or twice or nine times. Well, ten now. Double digits are pretty special, any interest in helping me celebrate,” Steve asked and the officer gave an outright laugh at that.

“Under different circumstances, I’d love to see you in handcuffs but this I’m afraid has to be business. Turn,” he said and Steve did.

Steve was released the next morning by Officer Barnes, he came to learn that was the name of who arrested him. The DA had decided not to press charges, though Officer Barnes had ‘let it slip’ the woman who had been assaulted was pressing charges on the guy. Steve had muttered a “good,” under his breath though Barnes didn’t comment on it.

“Stay out of trouble,” Barnes said when he let Steve out of the holding cell.

“Unlikely but thanks for the advice. I’ll probably be seeing you around,” Steve said with a slight smile as he left the station.

  
•••

  
Steve did not stay out of trouble and he did see Barnes again. In his defense, it really wasn’t Steve’s fault this time.

The next time they saw each other was after a pride parade. Steve was still in his rainbow attire, helping others collect their stuff. He was just about to get on the subway and go back to his apartment when someone came up to him and the drag queen, Miranda Miracle, he was helping and purposely knocked the box from Steve’s hands. Upon closer look, it was the same guy Steve had gotten into it with at his last march.

“You. I didn’t realize you were a tree hugger and a fa-“ he didn’t get a chance to finish because Steve had punched him, again.

Not wasting any time, the guy tackled Steve. Steve heard Miranda yelling for help and eventually someone was yanking the guy off of him. He could make out handcuffs clicking shut before he was being helped up. Miranda was the one to help him up but Steve immediately noticed Barnes.

“I thought I told you to stay out of trouble,” Barnes said but he looked a little worried. Steve understood why. His nose was bleeding, he had a split lip, and he thought he may be wheezing slightly but he wasn’t positive about that last one. Almost reluctantly Barnes asked, “who hit who first?”

“I punched him,” Steve said and his ribs definitely hurt.

“I’m going to have to take you in too then,” Barnes said but he was gentle when he handcuffed Steve.

  
•••

  
Once again Steve was let out the next day but this time Barnes walked him out. “You going to be able to make it home by yourself,” he asked cautiously.

“People may side-eye me on the subway but it’s New York so what do you expect to see on the subway?”

Barnes didn’t look convinced. “Wait here for just a second,” he said and went back into the station. Steve knew that he could leave but he liked Barnes so he stayed. When Barnes came back out not long after, he had a jacket that he handed to Steve.

Not asking any questions Steve accepted the jacket and put it on. It went down to his thighs but it was nice to have something more than his shorts and tank top. He stuffed his hands in the pockets and found a pen that had been forgotten. Without thinking, Steve pulled out the pen, took Barnes’ hand, and then wrote his phone number on the back of his hand.

“Hopefully the next time you see me in handcuffs, you won’t be arresting me. See you around, Barnes,” Steve said with a smile.

“It’s Bucky when I’m not arresting you,” Barnes shouted as Steve walked away. He had a stupid smile on his face when he got back to his apartment. If he happened to set up a date with Bucky next weekend, he had the right to remain silent.

  
•••

The third and final time Bucky arrested Steve was because he had gotten into a fight, shocking absolutely no one, at a women’s march. Some idiot had been yelling about how women belonged in the kitchen and at home to have babies, the guy sounded like a conservative from the 1940’s even though he couldn’t be much older than Steve. Steve had ignored him until he had grabbed one of the women beside Steve and started yelling specifically at her.

Steve knew Bucky was working at the march, they had talked about it before Bucky had left for work because they had been staying the night at each other’s apartments more than not recently. “Try to stay out of too much trouble. I think Natasha thinks that me arresting you is some kind of foreplay,” he had said before kissing Steve and leaving.

Needless to say, things escalated after that and it wasn’t long until Bucky was hauling Steve and the other man down to the station and processing both of them. Steve was fairly certain he could hear Bucky muttering something Steve being a ’ _stubborn-ass-idiot who wouldn’t know what’s good from him if it punched him in the teeth,_ ’ and he may have been slightly on to something not that Steve would ever admit that.

One thing that Steve had been very adamant about was Bucky never pull strings to get him out of trouble that he got himself into, not that he needed to be because Bucky wouldn’t have done it even if Steve had asked him to.

When Steve was released the next morning Bucky had clean clothes, coffee, and some muffins waiting for him. “Give Pepper my regards,” Bucky said after Steve had changed clothes and returned for his muffins and coffee. He kissed Steve’s forehead before Steve had to hurry to get to work on time.

“Have I told you recently that I love you,” Steve asked as he took a drink of the coffee.

“Yeah yeah. My ma would have a heart attack if she was still alive and knew that I was dating a delinquent like you,” Bucky said, rolling his eyes.

“Just say you love me too, you punk.”

“ I love you, you jerk.”

  
•••

  
“You know, I was hoping you would be lucky number thirteen,” Steve said lightly. The two were out celebrating two things. The first being their one year anniversary and the second being Bucky’s promotion to detective.

“Considering I’m now a cold-case detective, I hope I never arrest you. Is this your way of saying you killed someone,” he teased.

“You know all of my arrests have been mostly nonviolent,” Steve said and that earned a scandalized look from the older couple sitting across from them.

“Yeah, I’ve arrested you enough times myself to know first hand.” They chatted for the rest of the evening. Bucky had already met his new partner, a huge blonde guy named Thor, and Steve was planning on attending a march (he was trying to get Tony and Pepper to go with him).

When they got back to their apartment, they had moved in together five months ago, Steve was pinned against the door as soon as it was closed. Steve was so focused on the kiss that he hadn’t realized what happened until Bucky had already gotten the handcuffs on him. “What are you doing, Buck?”

“Steven Grant Rogers, you are under arrest for theft,” Bucky said while kissing Steve’s jaw. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. If you can not afford an attorney, one will be provided for you. Do you understand your rights as I have read them?”

“Yeah,” Steve said not even bothering to ask Bucky what he was doing and just going along with it. “What did I steal, Detective Barnes?”

“My heart,” was what Bucky said and then he was removing the handcuffs and getting down on one knee. “I could probably get the DA to make a deal. No time, all you have to do is agree to marry me,” Bucky said and pulled out a ring box from his jacket pocket.

“I-“

“I know this is fast but from the moment I had to pull you away from that idiot the first time I arrested you I knew. I thought ‘this punk is something else,’ but I had no what I had gotten myself into when I arrested you that first time. So what do you say, Stevie, will you marry me?”

“Yes,” Steve said and tackled Bucky to the ground.

  
•••

  
The next Monday Steve walked into work with a little pep in his step. “Oh, I know that look,” Tony said as soon as he saw Steve. “You either got arrest or had mind-blowing sex with your officer boyfriend or both. So which is it?”

“Tony! You can’t ask people that,” Pepper scolded.

“It’s fine, Pep. He got promoted so he’s a detective now and in a few months I’ll be doing life,” he said and showed them the ring on his left hand. Pepper doted over him for a few moments before collecting herself and Tony congratulated him.


End file.
